Margana: To Seek The Truth

18. The Call of Keys

After Lino and I asked everything we possibly could think of for this activity. We had a lot of unanswered questions, but I guess we did not have the permission to find out. I tried to think of every possibility that has even the slightest chance of occurring as Miya guided us towards the start of this oddly terrifying activity. I briefly observed my surroundings, perhaps I could find some clues to help speed up the process of the entire thing. I am not surprised that I did not find a single lead, this place is still the Esse-ver anyway.

"Miya will now open the entrance to the first room. Please remember the rules of this activity and give up everything to win. That's all... Thank you dear contestants. Please step in and click the start button to proceed."

I looked at Lino with eyes basking in uncertainty and fear of the unknown, sadly, he had the same exact expression. Both of us just could not accept the fact that we had to go through this horrible situation.

Upon entering the room, it felt really basic. The lights were on, it looks like it has been used recently. I mean, it was the storage room anyway, it was bound to have nothing going inside. At some point we had to start things, thus, Lino and I agreed to scout the room for possible clues.

5 minutes have passed by since he and I separated and the room was much bigger than I thought. It gives us more opportunities to hide, run, and escape. Peace of mind came to me when I looked through the room. I had a decent amount of knowledge of the storage room. A lot of boxes to roam through and to use as cover, it will do for now.

I felt way more convinced that I would survive this entire thing, I could help out Lino as well. Speaking of Lino, I am supposed to meet him at the entrance by now. I am way too consumed by my own thoughts, I completely forgot about the fact that I have to plan where the key and the door could be.

"Hey, Margana, psst... are you done swimming in your ocean of thoughts?" He laughed with an amused tone.

I snapped out of everything in a second replying,"Huh-? Oh, wait— Yeah! Why'd you have to put it like that though...?" Seriously, why did he say it like that? How annoying!

"Great then. Recall how we're supposed to start the redemption challenge now?"

My blood simply boiled at the response. Why was he acting so weird at a time like this? My response? It was really simple. I clicked the start option reluctantly without showing much of my true feelings about starting this thing. Well, it turned out to be a mistake.

The lights... They all turned off in an instant. It was so dark to the point that I couldn't see a thing. I immediately held Lino's hand out of impulse, I did not want to get lost now. It was actually the last thing I wanted to happen now.

"First cycle, start. 60 seconds remaining till the seeker arrives," said the robotic announcer.

"Lino, let's split up for now. Meet me here at the third cycle, please find at least a clue and come back here... Safely."

I certainly did not have the luxury of time to wait for his response, I assume he heard and understood it. I quickly looked through the wall of drawers, there had to be something within these boxes. 1... 2... 3... 4... and so on, I was still unable to find anything. I found a key in the 14th drawer, it said that it was used for a different container. A different what? I didn't see anything else!

"10 seconds remaining till the seeker arrives."

... I had to hide, and fast! 10 seconds... 10 seconds! 9, 8– Here! I swiftly hid myself between a large amount of boxes, I made sure that not a single hole was visible. The announcer said that the seeker was out, what kind of creature is it?! My heart was thumping loudly, I could hear it clearly. I didn't have time to calm down! Shoot— I heard heavy footsteps outside, it was extremely slow as well then it sped up once more. Whatever the seeker may be, I am confident that it was not human.